A Referee Aside - From the Sage's Desk

 

I know I said I wouldn't bog this blog down with rules and the nitty-gritty, but, before the party well and truly gets started, I want to give a brief explanation of what few house-rules we're using that may diverge from the basic Dolmenwood rules-as-written. Also, I'd like to give a very brief introduction to our players, and their initial characters.

Highlighted Rules

These were rules from the dolmenwood omnibus that I chose to especially highlight, to make the players aware of.

Initiative and waiting (DPB 166)
Missiles into Melee (DPB 168)
Parrying (DPB 169)
Retainers (DPB 134)
Sages & Specialists (DPB 132)
Ability Checks, Skill Checks, and Change Rolls (all very similar to other OSR systems, but slightly nuanced)
Stealth (nuanced from other systems)
Player mapping - Yes, we'll be using 100% oral-to-paper player mapping, the old school way...
Downtime and Stabling - We will be adhering to the spell research and other downtime periods (i.e., weeks, months, etc...), instead of shortening them, but will also be allowing for a much slower 'faction clock', taking our time, and allowing seasons to actually progress.
No spell research from Scrolls, as the RAW seems to suggest.
Spell creation is encouraged.
We'll be using the optional Smoking rule (DPB 129)
All-human PC generation, until other kindreds have been encountered in-game.

Differentiated Rules

Death - We're using the Goblin Punch Death and Dismemberment table for death. In practice, I've found this 'survival assist' to really just incentivize catastrophically poor choices on the parts of the uninjured PCs... which is excellent.

Mass Combat - We'll be using the War Machine rules for mass combat from Ye Olde Rules Cyclopedia, the best single OSR resource ever written.

The Wider World - Our Dolmenwood is set in the world of Greyhawk, just south of the Kingdom of Keoland, East of The Yeomanry, and North of the Hold of the Sea Princes, between the Good Hills, the Little Hills, and the Dreadwood. Technically, we're greatly expanding the number of hexes there, but I trust the rigid geography of the Flanaess won't notice...

The Players and Their Avatars

For privacy' sake, I will be cryptic of everybody's names, but we have four regular players: 

Ti, an old friend and a good GM in his own right, running a longstanding 5e game for many years in his own homebrew world. He rolled a truly decrepit character, which I personally hope will survive for many sessions, the Human Enchanter Perrin Ashbone. He has multiple-negative modifiers for all the stats that count, except, thankfully, Charisma. Maybe Retainers can save him.

Ny, a good friend and newer player to ttrpgs, but cutting her teeth the hard way on OSR principles, she alone was allowed to roll a Grimalkin on account of her outsized work on developing a cat-person name before I instigated the human-only-to-start rule. She rolled Meowianne, the Grimalkin Hunter.

Er, another good friend and newer player to ttrpgs (starting the hard way in the OSR), rolled a beefy fighter, will full plate and spear. As yet unnamed, but sure to distinguish herself, or become a heroic figure trying.

No, my second daughter, and the one with the darkest sense of humor and storytelling. She rolled a thief, one of her favorite classes. No is very experienced in failed thief skills, such as climbing and sneaking, and takes great relish in dying in unfortunate and very thiefy ways. Her character is named Greymorr.

In Conclusion

Tomorrow out first play session begins, where we'll meet a shadowy figure at The Chantry, and follow the PCs as they follow their noses out into the environs of Dolmenwood. They'll have upwards of six starting hooks to follow, so, although I plan to lightly railroad them (just this once) towards a starting dungeon. (I didn't want to start Perrin out there for fear it would just kill him... I wanted to give him a chance to work some sort of survival magic en route, that way when he dies it's Ti's fault, and not mine.)

Now, back to the tale...